Waverley Bar

Don't be fooled by its somewhat disheveled appearance – The Waverley Bar is a bit of an Edinburgh institution. Generations have come here to keep warm with a beer on a winter's night, and the clientele are an eclectic mix, the expected elderly gentlemen rubbing shoulders with younger generations of artists, writers and musicians. Its decor may not be the most polished, and its drink list isn't the most extensive, but the atmosphere is warm, you get your beer in a proper dimpled glass pint mug, and you might even hear some folk music upstairs.

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We agree - good description above: and if you don't like the penniless artists, storytellers, resting musicians and actors,working novelists, poets, journalists fishing for tomorrow's headlines and the most eccentric antiques dealer in Scotland who drink there ... and the hottest bar staff in the world, we'd rather you stayed away.
Posted by GOM | Saturday August 2009 @ 11:57
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Come on, it's more than that, surely? Is it not a time-captule, a peek into the past of something that was once reknowned for it's glory days at the centre of the folk scene? I prefer the mythicalesque stories that surround it and its owner. Did you not know the owner died and his brother inherited it? And has kept it as it was for 30 years in his brother's memory. The decor, which includes many old posters, is faded and dusty. The furniture is the same as it always was and the glsses haven't been renewed in many a day. The pints are still served in the old handled glasses. You may find these have come back into fashion on George St and the like, but they have always been in fashion at the Waverley. However, the best bit for me is the Great Gatspy jazz CDs that are played on loop all the time, fits the place perfectly. I'm not even a jazz fan. The one negative i would say about the place is the picture of a member of the Royal Family on the back bar, i guess nobody's perfect.
Posted by tartanCretan | Thursday November 2010 @ 09:50
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I remember the Waverley bar in the 1960s. A fabulous place with different singers every night, Ronnie Laing with Hugh, Don Knox, Nina Sfifris, Jihn Hanlon sometimes Dick Gaughan, Harry Cullen wit his band Town Choice, Hugh Vass, Etc. One night about 1969 Eric Bogle came in to say goodbye he was off to Aus.
Iain Walker kept it then and I am glad his brother Alex has kept it going. I live in Palawan in the hilippines but if I get back to Edinburgh I will pay a visit. Or am I still barred.Yes barred by Iain in 1071 and when I walked in to hear a young Janet Russell sing in 1981 he reminded me of this to which architact Eddie said " Chrst thats longer than murder. Iain did not insist on my leaving. Great pub wonderful Memories.
Posted by john mitchell | Sunday November 2011 @ 03:45
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Just to say that John Mitchell's recollection is slightly skewed. Both Walker brothers kept it in the sixties and Ian carried it on after Alex died in the early eighties. I know, cos my aunt Sheila was Alex's 'bidie in' and was often behind the bar when the brothers were otherwise engaged.
Posted by Brian Booth | Friday December 2011 @ 21:45
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